Tuesday, 21 April 2009

MONDIAL DU VENT 2009: SEB GARAT REPORT

Mondial du Vent 2009, 1st 2009 PKRA Event

Ciao everybody, here is a small report, day by day :

Sunday 12:

Strong north wind, rainy and pretty low temperatures, that’s the hard conditions we got for this first day of competition. We only did the 2 first round of Single Elimination. I passed my first heat against «James» and my second one as well against «Yates».

Monday 13:

The north wind is still blowing pretty strong, but the rain stopped, and the temperature is much better! No need to put gloves anymore. All riders are ready to ride at the 9am skippers meeting, but the 1st possible start is delayed at 10h45 because the wind is too strong for the 1st heats of girls.

Finally, at 10h45, race director decided to modify the Heat schedule, and to start directly with the men. The 1st skippers meeting of the day he said that they would have start with women… So, the guys who stayed on the beach were ready to go on the water, but Kevin Langeree and me were away from the competing area for warming up. So Kevin arrived late, and he just ride the 2 last minutes of his heat. And couldn’t beat Reno Romeu. Personally, I had run to be on time on my heat, but with this stressed situation, I forgot to put my competition lycra on. So, I rode pretty well, despite this hurry start… But none of my tricks count, since I didn’t wear the lycra!!!

So Alex Pastor won the heat to go on the semi final against Aaron. The head judge told me that I would have won with the lycra. I was pretty pissed off about this situation, cause I think it’s an error of the race direction. We spoke with the race director for 30 minutes, and tried to make re run the 2 heats (Kevin one’s and mine) but they didn’t want to.

I had to wait the afternoon with the start of the double elimination to win some places on the ranking.

When we lost in ¼ final on the single, we are 5 ex-aequo if the double is not runned. But as soon as the double elimination begin, we have to start at the 9th place.We have to win 1

heat to get 7th ranked. Then one more heat to be 6th. After that, we win only one place on the ranking after every heat we win. So that’s a hard job!

On my first heat of the double, I was against Cesar Portas. I won this first heat and have to ride against an other North rider in the next heat: Mario Rodwald. I won also this heat for the 6th place. After that, I had to ride against Kevin Langeree to get a chance to get 5. But unfortunately, Kevin had a better ride during the heat, and he continue until he lost against Youri Zoon.

Tuesday 14:

It was a no wind day in « La Franqui ». Some riders went to ride in Canet. I did few Interview in the morning, and then, I went also to Canet, for a nice kite session.

Wednesday 15:

From the morning, the wind was blowing pretty strong, but in the opposite direction than usual. It was south east wind. This wind is very rare in la franqui. The small cliff block this wind direction, but today it was strong enough to get it. But it was gusty because of the cliff.

Skipper Meeting was at 11am this day. For running 2 best tricks. First one was a Double handle pass best tricks, and the other one was a Board Off Best trick.

To win the first contest, we had to make power double handles pass. I managed to land one mobe 7 in my first heat, but the conditions were pretty hard. Strong and gusty wind. I passed my first heat, and went directly to the final, because we were 16 pre registered riders, some didn’t compete, and all riders who didn’t land any double were eliminated.

For the final, the wind picked up again, and was still more gusty!It was a part of luck to land one double, and I couldn’t land one during the 10 minutes of the final…Ranking for the Double Handle pass Best Tricks :

1 - Zoon (mobe 7)

2 - Langeree (mobe 7)

3 - Rondina (Slim Blind)

4 - Seb garat

We runned The Gotcha Best Trick (board off) later in the afternoon. Le wind was a little bit more side, so more gusty, with gust over 30 knots. So I pumped my new RRD Addiction 10.5.

That’s the new RRD Hang Time – Racing kite, perfect to stay in the air… The Sun was out, and a massive crowd on the beach was looking at this no foot contest. It was interesting for us and for people on the beach to show a different kind of kiteboarding.

We had 2 heats in the first round before to go to the final. We were the same riders on the Board Off final, than for the double handle pass final. Kevin Langeree, Youri Zoon, Alberto Rondina and myself. But this time I won the contest. I think I won thanks to my « Board Off Flip » which consist in taking the board off my feet, by the rail, and make it flip. And put it back on my feet before landing !

Thursday 16:

Finally, the last day was also a no wind day. But it was good to rest a bit after one week full of action! This event it was a real success, we were pretty lucky with the wind and we attend all the disciplines.